Is anybody setting a wishlist of new features to be included in a future version of the Tux Droid ?

My favourites would be:

- Web cam to transmit movie to the server (and maybe able to do some basic functionality like face recognition which is nowdays available in cameras), able to do motion detection

- Temperature sensors: you could use your penguin to monitor a specific room, while your server could regulate the thermostat (X10 etc.) according to the data received

- An internal motion sensor like the one in the Mac iBooks and a GPS to let Tux know where it is

- A RJ45 connector to use the penguin as alarm clock and radio etc. anywhere in the house

- An Arduino ( http://www.arduino.cc/ ) expansion in order to let Tux control the outside world

What do you think ?

Nice ideas, some followup on your thoughts:
- Web cam: that's for sure a new architecture, with wifi probably. Then you can also get better audio quality.
- Temperature: that's a hack we can have on the current tux. I'll probably put something together quite soon for temperature. I'm working on an I2C library for tux so that it'll be possible to control I2C devices connected to tux from your computer. That'll be a great hack extension for the current tux and there's actually no real limitations in the current version to achieve that. We could then also have an extension board or connect to an arduino.
- Motion sensor: a tilt would be cheap to add, accelerometers are a bit more tricky. But otherwise a GPS isn't maybe that helpful as long as tux can only spin, it's usually at the same place you last put him
- Don't get your point with the RJ45. I thought we already had radio/alarm clock?
- I want a display, tactical would be great. I have a great solution to all this, can't we incrust a Neo in tux's belly? (http://www.openmoko.com) That would be the tPhone (tux) or lPhone (Linux)

David

My wishlist is:

* SonarIf there will be a web cam,sonar is not needed)
*Move:More moving ability ,not just spin.Add a new motor to move forward and backward.Original spinning ability just transform as changing direction .

To make it as a real "watch-penguin".

Previously David Bourgeois wrote:

- Don't get your point with the RJ45. I thought we already had radio/alarm clock?

Imagine your server is far far away in your house. In a place where you
do not reach with wifi (or you don't want to, because of the constant
2.4 Ghz in your soft tissues). Imagine you have a wired house, with
RJ45 connectors in every room (like I do, and like most office places
do).

You can connect your Tux to the server with a wired CAT 5 cable. I'd
put him next to my bed, and he would wake me up singing .....



BTW I like you idea of the display ... imagine the Tux belly opens and
he display something .... even better, what about projecting - with a
microprojector like

http://www.gizmag.com/3m-announce-micro-projector-for-mobile-devices/8688/ ?

That would be a real cyber Tux like R2-D2



Daniele

My thoughts:
1) make tux not just a stupid doll, controlled wirelessly from PC, put some better hardware inside: there are plently of cheap routers, which contain small board with risc cpu, some ram, some flash and linux inside. such board may fit inside tux, providing huge opportunities.
2) insert better battery pack! there is plenty of free space inside, so why 4xAAA? why not 4xAA? Also, it'd be good to have insertable battery compartment, to use batteries instead of battery pack (really simple and good solution -- seen it somewhere).
3) if (1) and probably wifi -- use usb for charging and software updates
4) current model is VERY noisy! use more silent motors and gears.
5) I didn't check low level protocol yet, but it'd be great to have more precise control over tux movements: e.g. control wings, beak and rotation not by whole number of movements (like hight level interface now), but also have ability of freely moving these motors by small steps -- this will be great for making "tux dance" plugin for audio players
6) may be something else... I don't remember